Prosecutors would like to add aggrivated unlawful restraint to alleged kidnapper John D. Moro’s list of charges, after Moro’s defense recently motioned to have his kidnapping charges dropped.

Mike Wepsiec, Jackson County States Attorney, filed a motion to charge, Moro, 35, of Centralia, with aggravated unlawful restraint, and asked that a trial date be set.

A hearing has been set for 9 a.m. on Tuesday in Murphysboro.

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Moro is accused of abducting his daughter Demetria at gunpoint from Giant City School on Aug. 29. He plead not guilty to aggravated kidnapping, one count of unlawful use of weapons and two counts of armed violence on Oct. 31. Moro also faces a federal weapons charge.

A motion filed on Monday states that Wepsiec’s request to add an unlawful restraint charge is a response to any motions to dismiss charges against Moro that might be filed.

At his preliminary hearing on Oct. 31, Moro’s attorney Jackson County Public Defender Patricia Gross argued before Judge Thomas H. Jones to dismiss all charges against him. Gross cited a 1990 First District Appellate Court case ruling in which a Chicago man had his aggravated kidnapping conviction reversed because he was the girl’s biological father. Gross maintained that the same law should apply to Moro.

The motion Wepsiec recently filed states that Gross was advised to raise the issue to dismiss before Moro’s trial judge David W. Watt Jr.

Along with filing an additional charge, Wepsiec is asking to have Moro’s case set for trial by Jan. 9.

The motion filed by Wepsiec states that the 120-day period in which defendants who are in custody must be tried expires in January.

If the court uses the date that Moro was arrested in Washington, Moro’s trial would be required to begin on Jan. 9. However, if the court uses the date that Moro returned to Jackson County the 120-day period would expire on Jan. 25.

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If a trial date is not set before the 120-day period, Wepsiec said the speedy trial law will go into effect. Moro would have to be released and all motions would be dismissed, Wepsiec said.

Moro was arrested by FBI agents and local authorities in Ellensburg, Wash. after a two-week, nation-wide manhunt.

At the time of the kidnapping, Moro did not have custody of his daughter and was court-ordered to have visits with his daughter supervised by of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. As part of the Moro vs. Moro 1994 divorce, custody of Demetria was granted to Moro’s ex-wife Kelly E. Kurtz of Carbondale.

Moro has been in the Jackson County Jail since his return to Southern Illinois, and his daughter Demetria was returned to the custody of Kurtz.